In reply to David.

David: In fact it speaks precisely of professionalism. Although Chris didn't specify, what he was doing was qualifying - and that's a critical element in marketing anything. Sure, it's not an exact science and he may well have lost one or two that overlap in the fields "potential customers" and "narrow-minded humourless" but I'd judge he's likely to gain many more outside the second category. In any case, anyone who spends time agonising over not pissing off any potential customers whatever has far too much time on his or her hands and is likely to suffer the fate of Balaam's ass and starve to death.